Sheriff: Focus of Homeland Security funding should be prevention

By Cy Ryan

Friday, June 21, 2013 | 12:40 p.m.

CARSON CITY — A Nevada commission has set priorities for spending $3.2 million in federal Homeland Security grants, but Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie said its focus is misguided.

The Nevada Commission on Homeland Security received $5.6 million in requests for the federal money from 25 programs but had to pare it down to the available funds and 18 agencies.

Gillespie said Friday federal directives place a priority on responding to rather than preventing terrorist attacks.

“The system is broken and needs to be fixed,” Gillespie said at a meeting of the commission, which has submitted its recommendations to the federal government for approval.

Gillespie said the first six priorities on the commission’s list involve responding to an attack, including medical response.

The seventh priority is $749,950 for intelligence information and sharing by the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center, run by Metro Police. Another $348,500 is directed to the Nevada Threat Analysis Center operated by the state Department of Public Safety.

Also included in the recommendations are $180,000 for Henderson for recovery planning; $96,250 for the Clark County Office of Emergency Management for planning for community awareness and resilience; and $185,000 to Las Vegas for public health and medical services.